Re-orient

I have just finished reading Brennan Manning’s memoirs, All is Grace. I loved it. I am not going to write a review here but I would encourage everybody to read it.

I read lots of books that lead me to a place of better understanding. Reading is for me, primarily about thinking and ideas. Manning’s book was not an intellectual read. But it was a book that seemed to bypass my head and speak straight to my heart. His memoirs led me to a place of worship, and for that I am very grateful.

What did I take away from this book? God is very fond of me. He loves me as I am, not as I should be. And that is very good news.

Last week I was working in Canberra, so I decided to take the family. A family of 4 in one room, it was going to be a long couple of days but hopefully bucket-loads of fun. But then something amazing happened.

Our room wasn’t up to scratch, and I generally try and avoid confrontation, but as civilly as we could, we let the hotel staff know that our room was not up to the standard we expected. They apologised and before we knew what was happening we had been upgraded to the nicest suite in the whole hotel. From one room to 2 bedrooms, a bed for each of the children, 2 bathrooms - with spas, a lounge-room, a dining table, a kitchen. This suite was larger than our entire house. It had art on the walls! We are used to finger paintings. For just 2 nights we lived in luxury that we have never known.

What I found interesting was my response to this unexpected act of generosity. My first response was disbelief. As we settled in I began to make jokes.

It had been a rather strange day and earlier on my lunch break I had been generously given an unexpected free lunch. Knowing, superstitiously, that good things come in threes I jokingly suggested a quick visit to the casino. The reality was though I was joking because I did not know how to handle the unexpected and undeserved favour, and truth be told I was suspicious of the whole thing.

You hear stories of unexpected favour and unlooked for good-fortune but it never happens to you does it? At least it doesn’t to me. When faced with this situation do you know what I did? I kept looking for the catch. Surely it was a mistake. At some point the shopkeeper would come looking for me with a bill in his hand. When I check-out of the hotel they are going to hand me a bill I can’t afford to pay because this whole thing is a mistake right? It smells funny. Everyone is out for themselves and there is bound to be a hidden cost. I doubt I am alone in my cynicism.

And all of this brings me to Easter. God’s gift, so amazing, so dramatic and so undeserved. Freely given. We do nothing to deserve God’s love. I think though, that we are somehow naturally wired to be un-trusting. We look for the catch, we look for the requirement list. We invent them and we preach them and accepting this gift of God takes on complications and catches that Jesus never placed on it.

There was no more extravagant, luxurious gift than this. That while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I have been teaching a local congregation. They number about 40, and they are aging. The question they keep on asking is “how can we grow?” For them it is a question of generational survival …. and yet I am convinced it is the completely wrong question.

I did a search on an online Christian bookstore for “Church Growth”. 432 Books titles were returned. 432! All of these books about how we can grow our churches. I read a few of the synopsis. These books talk about strategies, style, message, relevance, cross-cultural communication, leadership styles (hasn’t everybody in ministry heard that every problem is a leadership problem?), worship style, demographic research, service structure. I take away from this two main messages. One, church growth is our problem. Two, If we accept the first postulation, we are doing it wrong. If we had it sorted then there wouldn’t be 432 books, many disagreeing with each other, all offering different opinions in print. If we had it sorted, church growth wouldn’t be in negative percentages in the western world.

But I am not worried. Mainly because I do not accept the first idea. I may be wrong, but I cannot find and passage in the new testament discussing how to grow the local church. The church did not seem to have a problem with growth. The closest I can find is Matt 16. And in the words of Jesus “I will build my church”. I believe church growth is God’s problem, and if we could focus on the jobs he has given us, and be the people He would want us to be, then the church would become as attractive to people as it was in the first century.

Matthew 16

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of death will not overcome it.19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Stepping out of Church ministry, moving to a smaller, simpler style of meeting with people outside of the contemporary church I have loved the relaxed pace of my Sunday. I see my kids more, I see my extended family more, I see friends more, and that time is more relaxed.

Though we have been visiting a local church, and our experiences have been positive and have been wanting to attend more regularly.

Last Sunday rolled around and I was having lunch with my brother’s family. The food was good, the weather was good, the company was good. Trouble was I kept looking at my watch. Church was fast approaching, and now that we had decided to go, I wanted to get there. The closer we got, the less focused on what was going on around me I became. I begun packing up our stuff, rushing my kids to finish what they were doing, and basically getting frustrated and rushed myself.

In the end, (thanks to a timely water fight,) we left, but not in time for church. So I am driving home, earlier than I needed to, thinking about my behaviour. I was a better brother, friend, and possibly even a better Christian before I started trying to get myself to church.

I have no problem with church attendance, but I think many Christians have placed undeserved importance on it. It is not the most important part of your week. It is not the place you go to meet God. God is everywhere, and we need to find him where we are.

To say church is the most important part of your week, is to say work, family time, time spent with friends, play time, rest time is not as important. Jesus was at my brother’s house. As tangible, and as real as He was in any church congregation last Sunday. I missed him there trying to find him somewhere else.

In any given day there are numerous thoughts, actions and observations which given enough contemplation would be worth writing about. But apparently, after the novelty wears off I am just not very disciplined, which is a little sad as writing here is far more beneficial to me than anybody else.

Well I hope I can do better.

I am attempting to be less a consumerist, but when the sole fell out of my sneakers this morning I figured it was probably high time to get a new pair.

I have been thinking more recently about ethical purchases. Cheap is great, except when others are exploited to make it cheap. So I did some research, and in my lunch break, and in a broken pair of shoes, I walked the 30 minutes to Newtown to “The Happy Herb Shop”. They are stockist of Etiko shoes.

http://www.etiko.com.au/sneakers/etiko-sneakers-organic-low-cuts/w1/i1003287_1001344/

For just little more than I would pay for same shoe from Converse I now have a pair of Fair-Trade, Organic, and apparently Vegan shoes.

For the sake of our globe we need to consume less, and for the sake of those that live on it we need to be smarter, and more compassionate, when we do shop.

It’s election time in Australia, and I am finding it harder and harder to know who to vote for. Raised in a middle-class, conservative, Christian home; attending a Christian School; and until now, always being part of a mainstream, conservative, pentecostal church, a conservative bias in politics seems to be assumed.

I do not think it was ever spoken, but I know most people that fall into these categories will have a natural inclination to vote conservative right. That is Liberal or Family First in Australia. The assumption is that they will uphold our moral and family values.

I was recently reading Ed Dobson’s “The Year of Living Like Jesus”. Ed helped start the Conservative Coalition in the US, and yet after reviewing the policies of both the Republican and Democratic parties he simply felt that Obama’s policies were more in line with Jesus’ Gospel.

What I think happens is we make key moral issues, like gay marriage or abortion, watershed issues. Our entire vote rests on a candidate’s stand on one or two morally divisive policies. But if we were to align a party’s whole policy platform against the gospel I wonder if the choice would stay the same.

Or, if we are going to have watershed issues, should they be these issues?Wouldn’t compassion to refugees, or equity between socio-economic divides be more inline with the Gospel of Jesus. Compassion, grace and acceptance were far more concerning to Jesus than a debate of sin verse righteousness. 

I am not going to suggest how anybody votes. I simply ask that you consider the policies of all the candidates. Decide which policies are closest aligned to your personal beliefs and place your votes according to your own conclusions, using your own discernment.

Matt 5:1-10

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying: 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
     for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
     for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
     for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 
     for they will be filled. 
Blessed are the merciful,
     for they will be shown mercy. 
Blessed are the pure in heart, 
     for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
     for they will be called sons of God. 
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
     for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Personally, I ask which party will take money from our defense budget and spend it on the poor. This may be an over simplification, but to me it lines up with Jesus’ Teaching. I don’t want to get into a political debate. All I want is for you to exercise your wisdom and discernment at the polling booth.